So lemmy/kbin doesn’t feel the same yet. A lot of the content I viewed on reddit, just isn’t here in the same way. I think when the api changes take affect, we will see many more people making the switch as in a lot of subs, the content is posted via api when scrapeing other sources. That mixed with changes in moderation will be catalysts to people moving here full time. I also think there still needs to be some work on the interface. Even the best run instances don’t have the same look and feel of reddit. If something feels different, people will resist it no matter how much they want to like it. As much as some people may have thought it would be, this is not an overnight migration.
In this case I think he doesn’t understand cloud hosting at all, so he doesn’t see the cost making sense. If you don’t value something, the pricetag seems ridiculous and you won’t even consider paying it. He will probably realize the mistake eventually.